Girls of Paper and Fire

by Natasha Ngan

To purchase this novel or to find more information, you can visit Amazon.

Amazon Prices:

Paperback: $17.81

Hardcover: $18.99

Kindle: $18.99 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Audible: $19.95 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Before Reading Facts:

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan was published in 2018 by Jimmy Patterson Books.

Page Count: 400 pages (paperback) 400 (kindle) 400 (hardcover)

Audiobook length: 14 hrs 23 mins

Chapters: 37

Languages: English

Summary of Book:

“Lei is of the Paper castle, the lowest class in Ikhara. Even so, rumors of her golden eyes have piqued the King’s interest, and so she is ripped from her home and taken to the opulent palace, a gilded prison, her life now beholden to the Demon King’s every whim.

But as Lei dreams of escape, she does the unthinkable: she falls in love. Her forbidden romance, enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the King’s very reign, will force Lei to decide just how far she’s willing to go to fight for her freedom.

Lush, poetic, and utterly unforgettable, Girls of Paper and Fire is an extraordinary tale, reminding us that pure love and passion can transcend even the bleakest of fates.” -Jimmy Patterson Books

Author Biography:

“Natasha Ngan is a writer and yoga teacher. She grew up between Malaysia, where the Chinese side of her family is from, and the UK. This multicultural upbringing continues to influence her writing, and she is passionate about bringing diverse stories to teens. Natasha studied geography at the University of Cambridge before working as a social media consultant and fashion blogger. She recently moved to Paris, where she likes to imagine she drifts stylishly from brasserie to brasserie, notepad in one hand, wineglass in the other. In reality, she spends most of her time getting lost on the metro and confusing locals with her French.” -Jimmy Patterson Books

Book Review:

Overall Book Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Before anything, I would like to admit that this book was not for me. I did not find myself getting too invested in the story. Now, let me first clarify that I am not saying this is a bad book. It just simply did not fit what I typically like to read. I will explain that in detail how I came about my high rating of the book.

Now, I do not let my taste for books weigh too much in my rating. I already admitted that I did not fall in love with this book, yet I still have it a really good rating. I did that because this is a beautifully written novel. I absolutely loved Ngan’s writing and the way she presents her characters and their world. I praise her writing and her novel for doing such a magnificent job in drawing readers into her world and taking them on a very distinct and unique journey.

Though this book is not one I picked up as soon as it came out, I was very impressed with Ngan. The way she colors her story is amazing and it kept me invested enough to read more. I do admit that I picked this book out after seeing it floating around multiple bookstagram accounts. I found it to look interested and decided to buy it. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves the telling of a rebellious love story.

Audible Review:

Narration Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Narration by Allison Hiroto

Hiroto does an amazing work narrating this story! I had no problem getting into this story, and her narration made the novel all that much more enjoyable. I will say that I recommend listening to the narration at least at a 1.5 speed. The speeds slower than that are too slowed down for me. For those of us who like to multitask and listen on the go, I recommend listening at a 2.0 speed, so one does not miss anything. Normally, I listen to audiobooks at a 1.5 speed while multitasking, but I found that listening to this one at a 2.0 speed was just as good. For those who are listening while reading the book, I found 2.5 and 3.0 speed to be the best speeds. 3.0 was too fast for me, and I was missing a lot of what the narrator was saying and had to eventually slow down the narrator’s reading speed.

Happy New Year Everyone!

photo of fireworks — Photo by Anna-Louise on Pexels.com

We are once more beginning another year full of promise, goals, and ambition. First and foremost, I wish everyone a happy beginning to the year and hope all your goals are accomplished this year. Let’s make this year better than the last and strive to do more good and get closer to our dreams.

I tend to avoid making any resolutions each year because let’s be honest, most resolutions go unaccomplished. How many of us strive to get in shape this year or be healthier? That was always a common resolution I set for myself and ended up not only not accomplishing the resolution but actually feeling like a failure when I gave up. To me, resolutions do more harm than good. For that reason, I tend to shoot for smaller, short-term goals that will lead to bigger long-term goals.

For example, this year I want to read at least 50 books. I know that is a goal I can accomplish because I did it in 2018. However, to accomplish that goal, I must start with a smaller goal. I will start with striving to read one book a month. Twelve books seem more manageable than fifty. I’ve joined a book club that has a monthly reading, so that will only help accomplish this smaller goal. I have already purchased the January’s book and am ready to kick of my reading. The reason I reduce my actual reading goal with a smaller one is because I have found that one book just isn’t enough when I actually get going and start reading. I always end up wanting to read more and more and more. I don’t let the big 50 scare me and overwhelm me, so I reduce the goal and slowly, through the enjoyment of the books I read, I accomplish smaller goals until I eventually surpass my reading goal! This past year, I set out to read fifty and ended up reading around sixty-eight! That is the success of short-term goals.

pen calendar to do checklist — Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

Another short-term goal I have for myself is to write and edit more. I have set a goal to edit a chapter of my current project a week. That is a very simple goal to accomplish, and I already know that once I get going in my editing, I will eventually start editing a chapter a night! The fear of a new year and the fear of failing my goals has always petrified me and kept me from actually getting anything done. But these short-term goals have helped so much, and I encourage others to do the same.

Whether you want to read, write, or edit more, start with a paragraph, a page, a sentence a day, and then work your way up to more and more! Start with small goal you know you can do. Doing so will motivate you to keep going, and you’ll find the process more enjoyable and soothing when you surpass all of the expectation you placed on yourself.

Here is a simple writing, editing, and reading goal I have set for myself that many can follow if they are doing all three at once, as I am:

Reading: 5 pages a night or a chapter a week
Writing: 1 page a night
Editing: 1 page a night

This is a very simple goal for each area and can easily be accomplished. So I encourage you to set very easy goals and surpass them as much as possible in order to prove to yourself that you can do it!

January Reads:

10786582384_IMG_0911 — Photo by H. J. Ortiz

I assume that as readers, we all have a pile of To Be Read books in our rooms/offices and more in our shopping carts ready for order as soon as our next paycheck hits! The picture above, shows only a portion of that list that I have. My priority is to read Eve of Man, as that is a book that I will be posting a review of by the end of the month and will be discussing it in a book club. After that one, my next priority will be The Rose Society, as I am loving the series. Those two novels are my priority reads of this month. After those, I want to follow up with the third book in The Young Elites Series and then any of the others in the list. I have such a hard time deciding what to read next. There simply too many amazing books out there; I want to read them all!

H.J. Reads Reviews:

I have decided to start up a small review segment to this blog that will take place every Friday. Since I enjoy reading so much, I decided I should go ahead and fill you guys in on what I am reading and what my thoughts are. For the month of January, I will be posting reviews of the four books above: Scythe, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Young Elites, and Eve of Man. Therefore, for the time being, every Friday at 5:00 pm, Central Time, I will be posting reviews. For January, I will post the reviews in the order that I listed the novels above. I have already read three of the book above. I finished reading them this past month and am eager to read the fourth and final book I will review. Stay tuned for those reviews and for the review announcement for the month of February.

January Editing Project:

This month I will be continuing my editing of my YA science fiction novel The Exiled. I started this project in a creative writing course a couple of years back and am currently on my fifth draft. I have enjoyed the editing of this project from the very start and will be editing this project for what I hope will be the last time before beginning my hunt for publishers and agents. I am excited to see what 2019 will have in store for this novel!

January Writing Project:

person holding white paper and typewriter — Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

As I am working to edit my first novel, The Exiled. This month’s writing project is to work on a different project than anything in The Exiled series. This other writing project is currently untitled and is very different than anything I have done before. This project is a fiction novel (not my typical writing genre: science fiction) and will likely be a stand-alone novel. I do not usually tend to take on multiple writing projects at once, but since I am not doing much writing at the moment, given that I am editing The Exiled, I tend to aim to edit one project and write another and keep that cycle going. I do not usually write two stories during the same writing period. That is a writing/editing task I can actually take on without getting confused and mixing up the stories or characters.

Stay tuned for more updates! For now, I plan on posting my H. J.’s Thoughts posts on Wednesdays at 5:00 pm, Central Time, and my H. J.’s Reads book reviews on Fridays at 5:00 pm, Central Time. My H. J.’s Thoughts posts will feature information regarding my writing and editing and will include any information I have regarding what I am reading or what to expect in upcoming posts. They will serve as my way of communicating what I have planned for you guys. I’m hoping that in the future to separate all of my posting updates for editing, writing, and reading, so keep an eye out for those changes. For now, I wanted all of you to see what is planned for the first month of 2019. Next week, I will be sharing more on my writing and editing process, so stay tuned!

Best Regards,

H. J.

Tag: #girlsofpaperandfire